BY KIM MOORE | RESEARCH EDITOR
An international architecture firm known for its design of the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion in New York unveiled its plan this week for a modern indoor/outdoor food market at the foot of the Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland.
BY KIM MOORE | RESEARCH EDITOR
An international architecture firm known for its design of the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion in New York unveiled its plan this week for a modern indoor/outdoor food market at the foot of the Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland.
The James Beard Public Market, named after Portland’s famous chef and food entrepreneur James Beard, will feature soaring natural wood ceilings supported by exposed structural steel columns. From the upper level of the two-storey structure, visitors will be able to access a large rooftop terrace with views of the waterfront park and Willamette River.
Architecture firm Snøhetta was chosen to design the market. The Norwegian firm has designed several famous, international civic and cultural projects, including the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the redesign of Times Square in New York.
The 80,000 square-foot market will have a wing-like form on either side of the Morrison Bridge, acting as a gateway to downtown Portland. It will have 60 permanent vendor stalls and 30-40 day tables for “budding” food entrepreneurs, said Ron Paul, executive director of the James Beard Public Market. Vendor stalls will be arranged along a pathway that connects the market’s main entrances to an outdoor market. There will also be room for mobile food vendors. The venture will be open daily and year-round.
The site was chosen because of its central city location and its function as a transportation hub, said Craig Dykers, founding partner at Snøhetta. The site is currently occupied by parking lots and a homeless encampment. Paul hopes the project will transform the area into a community and cultural area.
An economic analysis of the market is now underway. Paul would not provide an estimate of the project cost. The market will be financed through government funding and private investors. Rents paid by the vendors will support the market’s operating costs, said Paul. He added he wants the venture, which is due to open in the spring of 2018, to operate “debt-free.”
The idea of a public indoor market in Portland is not new. Several markets operated in Portland from the 1880s through to the late 1940s. Large indoor/outdoor markets have operated successfully in other cities around the country, including the Pike Place Market in Seattle. But Portland has lacked a public market in downtown since the failure of the last public market, the Portland Public Market, which closed in 1949.
The concept of a new modern-day market began in 2000. The James Beard Public Market operates under a nonprofit organization, the Historic Portland Public Market Foundation, and has several private sponsors, including restaurants, hotels, a law firm and a bank.
